J&K government denies compensation to the youth tied by Indian Army to its jeep

After receiving a lot of flak for filing FIR against the Indian Army Major Aditya for allegedly killing two Kashmiri youths, the Jammu and Kashmir government denied compensating the youth, who was tied to the jeep of the Indian Army to tackle stone pelters.

Claiming that the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) does not hold any jurisdiction to probe against the Indian Army, the Mehbooba Mufti government said that compensating the youth would mean condemning the Indian Army officer without hearing the case. The decision was put forward on February 1, 2018.

Answering a question directed by senior National Conference leader Ali Muhammad Sagar in the J&K Assembly, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti – who also happens to be the Home Minister of the state – said:

No allegations as regards the violation of human rights of the applicant have been leveled against the state government or any of its functionaries.

The state government has discharged its obligation by registering an FIR number 38/2017 in the matter at Beerwah police station and consequently initiated investigation.

Paying compensation to Farooq Ahmad Dar, who was tied to an Army vehicle by Major Leetul Gogoi would tantamount to establish the officer’s guilt without affording him an opportunity of being heard.

If one may recall, the video of Dar being used as a human shield had gone viral across the social networking sites in April, 2017. The incident occurred on April 9, 2017, in Kashmir’s Budgam area — the day bypolls for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat were held.

The state government has also termed the decision put forward by SRHC to provide compensation to the youth as “handicapped” since the SRHC holds no jurisdiction to traverse the Indian Army conduct.